Israel's Historic Achievement

From Israel's Historic Achievement:

To think of Israel as 60 years old may be wrong when its enemies seek to portray it as an alien usurper. In fact, the Jews have lived in the Land of Israel for over 3,300 years, since 1312 BCE. They had lived there at least 1,800 years before the Arab conquest of 635 CE, which lasted only 22 years. Jerusalem was the Jewish capital for over 3,300 years and never was the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. King David founded Jerusalem; Muhammad never set foot in it. Jews pray facing Jerusalem, and Muslims face Mecca. Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in the Old Testament and not once in the Koran. The Jews have never had any other national homeland.

The Jews who became Israelis have cultivated desolate lands with one of the world's most innovative agricultural economies; they have established legal systems that protect civil liberties against the backdrop of the most lethal security threats. They have made a home for the world's largest Jewish population, passing America. The realization of the dream that Israel represents with its rebirth has evoked the spirit of kinship and emotional association with those who share the Judeo-Christian community throughout the world.

Arabs Desecrate Grave of Biblical Joshua

Just when you thought that Muslims couldn't stoop any lower, what do they do? They go and desecrate the graves of the great Jewish Biblical Joshua, Caleb and Nun (Joshua’s father). Joshua served as the Jewish Nation's Prime Minister from the year 2488 until 2516 on the Hebrew calendar (1272 BCE - 1300 BCE). Members of the One Shechem organization that organizes visits to the graves arrived in the village of Timnat (Kifl) Haress, near Ariel in Samaria, to prepare for a special prayer gathering, discovered that Muslim barbarians had desecrated the village’s Jewish tombs. The tombs of Yehoshua (Joshua) ben Nun, Nun, and Calev (Caleb) ben Yefuneh were covered with garbage and feces – both human and animal, and anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans and symbols had been painted in the area.

Can you imagine if the abomination referred to as the al-aqsa mosque had been slopped with feces? There'd be no end to the international outrage, because frankly, everyone loves Muslims, because Muslims are scary and threatening and dangerous - and everyone hates the Jew because we are actually winsome, weak, and cowardly.

Nevertheless, Jewish worshippers still gathered at the tombs Tuesday night for special prayers on the tenth of Tevet, the day Kaddish and other prayers are recited for those whose date of death is unknown, such as Calev ben Yefuneh.

The prayers were also to mark the end of the 30-day increased-stricture mourning period for murdered Jewish father Ido Zoldan of Kedumim, by a Muslim police officer.

See, that's the difference between Jews and the Muslim miscreant. We pray for the dead, while Muslims pray to be dead.

Don't ever let me hear any one of you say that "we all worship the same god". Like hell, we do.

Click here for an Arutz-7 Exclusive Photo Essay of a midnight visit to the graves of Joshua, Calev and Nun.

Jerusalem Viewpoints from JCPA

Received by email:

Greetings from Jerusalem,

We just published two new and very insightful Jerusalem Viewpoints that I think you'll find of interest:

"The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to Al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?" by Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi

"The Palestinian Authority and Jewish Holy Sites in the West Bank: Rachel's Tomb as a Test Case" by Nadav Shragai

Muslim terror group broadcasting from Temple Mount

This is beneath contempt and an abomination. Islam is truly diseased. Via WND:

The official radio network of a major terror organization has been exclusively broadcasting daily from the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, WND has learned.

The radio network regularly features Iranian and anti-Semitic propaganda and death threats against Jews.

The Al-Quds network, the official radio station of the Islamic Jihad terror group, has been exclusively broadcasting special nightly Ramadan prayers from the Mount's Al Aqsa Mosque since last week. The station also is broadcasting the Tarawih prayers, special Sunni Muslim prayers recited at night during Ramadan.

Islamic Jihad, together with Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, took responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel the last three years. Islamic Jihad also carried out scores of deadly rocket and shooting attacks and is one of the most active Palestinian terrorist organizations.

According to Palestinian leaders in the Gaza Strip, the nightly prayer broadcast on Islamic Jihad's station is currently the most popular radio program in the Palestinian territories. The broadcast affords Palestinians isolated to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank the opportunity to listen to the Tarawih prayers live from the Al Aqsa Mosque, widely called the third holiest site
in Islam.

The last few days the special broadcasts, sampled by WND, have been preceded and followed by Islamic Jihad speeches featuring anti-Israel propaganda, such as calling for the destruction of the Jewish state and advocating Palestinian solidarity with Iran.

It was unclear whether Islamic Jihad had official permission from Israel or from the Waqf Islamic custodians of the Temple Mount to broadcast from the holy site, located in Jerusalem and jointly administered by the Waqf and Israeli police.

A spokesman for Israel's Police Authority did not return phone calls before press time.

According to Palestinian security sources speaking to WND, Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds radio has been using technicians from the Voice of Palestine, the official radio network of the Palestinian Authority, to facilitate the Temple Mount broadcasts, even though the program is not aired on PA radio.

The sources said the Waqf as well as the PA is "well aware" Islamic Jihad is broadcasting from the Mount.

The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed
from Babylonian captivity. It was expanded by King Herod in 19 B.C. shortly before the birth of Jesus. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.

The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies,
which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's "presence" dwelt. The Dome of the Rock now sits on the site and the Al Aqsa Mosque is adjacent.

The temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays.

The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.

The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven.

Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from "a sacred mosque" – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to "the farthest mosque" and from a rock there ascended to heaven.

The farthest mosque later became associated with Jerusalem, through twisted lies, murder, and Muslim mayhem.

Israel 'allowing Muslims to destroy Temple wall'

Muslims blew up the Bamiyan Buddha Statues in 2001. Why wouldn't they want to destroy the Holy Mount, Judaism's holiest site on the planet? Via WND:

Israel is blocking leading archeologists from surveying massive damage Islamic authorities are accused of causing to what experts believe may be an outer wall of the Second Jewish Temple, WND has learned.

"It is unconscionable that the Israeli government is permitting the Waqf to use heavy equipment to chop away at the most important archeological site in the country without supervision," prominent, third-generation Temple Mount archeologist Eilat Mazar told WND.

"The Israeli government is actively blocking us from inspecting the site and what may be a monumental find and is doing nothing while the Waqf destroys artifacts at Judaism's holiest site," charged Mazar, a professor of Hebrew University and member of the Public Committee for Prevention of the Destruction of Antiquities on Temple Mount.

Mazar also is the discoverer and lead archaeologist of Israel's City of David, believed to be the palace of the biblical King David, the second leader of a united Kingdom of Israel, who ruled from around 1005 to 965 B.C.

Last month, the Waqf, the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount, were given permission by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to use bulldozers and other heavy equipment to dig a large trench they say is necessary to replace 40-year-old electrical cables for mosques at the holy site. The dig is being protected by the Israeli police and is supposed to be supervised by the Israeli government's Antiquities Authority.

Earlier this month, after bulldozers pulverized a trench 1,300 feet long and about five feet deep, the Muslim diggers came across a wall Israeli archeologists believe may be remains of an area of the Second Jewish Temple known as the woman's courtyard.

The Antiquities Authority has not halted the dig and has not inspected the site. The Waqf has continued using bulldozers to blast away at the trench containing the wall.

Leading Temple Mount archeologists, including Mazar and Gavriel Barkai, petitioned the Israeli government to immediately halt the dig and allow experts to inspect the emerging wall.

But Mazar and other archeologists say they are being blocked by the Israeli government.

"The Antiquities Authority tells us to coordinate with the police. The police send us back to the Antiquities Authority," said Mazar. "It's crucial this wall is inspected. The Temple Mount ground level is only slightly above the original Temple Mount platform, meaning anything found is likely from the Temple itself."

Fed up, Mazar and other top archeologists today ascended the Mount to hold a press conference and inspect the site without government permission, but they were blocked from the trench by the Israeli police.

Rabbi Chaim Rechman, director of the international department at Israel's Temple Institute, was among those on the Mount today with Mazar. He told WND he attempted to take pictures of the damage the bulldozers are allegedly wrecking on the wall, but his digital camera was confiscated by Israeli police at the direction of Waqf officials.

"If Israel was building a shopping mall and they found what may be an ancient Buddhist structure, the government would stop the construction and have archeologists go over the area with a fine tooth comb. Here, the holiest site in Judaism is being damaged, a Temple wall was found, and Israel is actively blocking experts from inspecting the site while allowing the destruction to continue," Rechman said.

Rechman charged the Waqf was "trying to erase Jewish vestiges from the Temple Mount."

The last time the Waqf conducted a large dig on the Temple Mount – during construction 10 years ago of a massive mosque at an area referred to as Solomon's Stables – the Wafq reportedly disposed truckloads of dirt containing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods.

After the media reported on the disposals, Israeli authorities froze the construction permit given to the Wafq, and the dirt was transferred to Israeli archeologists for analysis. The Israeli authorities found scores of Jewish Temple relics in the nearly disposed dirt, including coins with Hebrew writing referencing the Temple, part of a Hasmonean lamp, several other Second Temple lamps, Temple period pottery with Jewish markings, a marble pillar shaft and other Temple period artifacts. The Waqf was widely accused of attempting to hide evidence of the existence of the Jewish Temples.

Archaeologists: Muslim Dig Damaged Temple Wall

Well, that is their goal, folks; it is the goal of Muslims to deny to the world any evidence that Jews did indeed build and live within and next to their religious holy sites. Why do Muslims do that? So as to confound and confuse the rest of the world into believing the mendacious premise that only arabs lived in Israel, and that Jews were just invaders. From Archaeologists: Muslim Dig Damaged Temple Wall:

A month-old Islamic dig on Jerusalem's Temple Mount to replace faulty electrical cables has damaged an ancient wall that is likely a remnant of the Second Temple, Israeli archaeologists said Thursday. Among the antiquities that have been damaged are a 7-meter-wide wall that apparently dates back to Second-Temple times and was likely part of the Temple courts, according to Israeli archaeologists from the nonpartisan Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount. Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar said that the Temple Mount had become "one big construction site."

Six Reasons Why The Wall Is Holy

The Western Wall draws people of all backgrounds and faiths. Why?

1) Site of the Holy Temple

The Western Wall is the only surviving remnant of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by Titus in 68 C.E. The Temple, the center of the spiritual world, was the main conduit for the flow of G-dliness into this world. When the Temple stood, there was respect for G-d, for His Torah - and for each other. There was no doubt about G-d's existence. There were no atheists. Every body acknowledged one G-d and understood the genius of His laws. The world was filled with awe of G-d and love of G-d.

The Temple Mount is also called Mount Moriah. This is the spot where Abraham bound Isaac, and where Jacob dreamt of the ladder reaching to heaven. The Sages explain that the name "Moriah" is actually a play on words: "Moriah is the place from which instruction (horah) goes forth, from which the fears of heaven (yirah) goes forth; from which light (orah) goes forth."

The Holy Temple served the non-Jewish world as well. When King Solomon built the Temple, he specifically asked G-d to heed the prayer of the non-Jew who comes to the Temple (Kings I 8:41-43). The Jewish prophet refers to the Temple as a "House for all nations" (Isaiah 56.7). The Temple was the universal center of spirituality, a concentrated point where G-d-consciousness filtered down into the world.

In ancient times, the service in the Holy Temple during the week of Sukkot featured a total of 70 bull offerings. This, the Talmud explains, corresponds to each of the 70 nations of the world. In fact, the Talmud says that if the Romans (who destroyed the Temple) would have realized how much benefit they themselves were benefiting from the Temple, they never would have destroyed it!

2) Permanent Reminder of God's Presence

The Sages prophesied that after the Temple's destruction, the Divine Presence will never leave the Western Wall. For this reason, the Wall will never be destroyed. The Wall is endowed with everlasting sanctity. The Talmud (Megillah 3:3) says: "And I will make your sanctuaries desolate" (Leviticus 26:31) - this means that the sanctuaries retain their sanctity even when they are desolate. (See "Secret of the Western Wall")

The Wall is therefore a symbol of the Jewish People: Just as there have been many efforts to destroy the Wall - and yet it remains eternal, so too the Jewish People have outlived its enemies and remain eternal!

In the Torah, G-d assures us that the Jewish People will never be destroyed. In establishing the eternal covenant, G-d tells Abraham: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations, an eternal covenant, to be your God and the God of the descendants after you" (Genesis 17:7).

As Mark Twain wrote: "Other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"

3) Place of Pilgrimage and Tears

During the times of the Temple, Jews from around Israel would make pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times each year. During the 1900-year exile, Jews would travel to Jerusalem at great expense and danger, just to have the chance to pray at the Wall. There, they would pour their hearts out to G-d, beseeching him for Jewish redemption. They watered the Wall with their tears and melted the stones with their kisses.

The Talmud (Brachos 32) teaches that when the Temple was destroyed, all the Gates of Heaven were closed -- except for one. That is the Gate of Tears. The Western Wall therefore also become known as the "Wailing Wall" - because of all the tears Jews have shed there.

From 1948-1967, during the Arab occupation of the Old City, Jews were forbidden access to this holy cite. Imagine the joy each Jew feels today at the easy opportunity to go and pray at the Western Wall!

4) Focus of Prayers

Three times a day, for thousands of years, Jewish prayers from around the world have been directed toward the Western Wall. As Rabbi Judah HaLevy so poignantly said: "I am in the west, but my heart is in the east (Jerusalem)."

Our mystical tradition teaches that all prayers from around the world ascend to the Wall, from where they then ascend to heaven. The Talmud says: "If someone is praying outside the Land of Israel, he should direct his heart in the direction of Israel. If the person is praying in Israel, he should direct his heart toward Jerusalem. Those in Jerusalem should direct their hearts to the Temple. As the Bible says, "And they will pray to You through the land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You chose, and the house which I have built in your name" (I Kings 8:48).

5) Built with Love and Dedication

When the Temple was being built, the work was divided among the different sectors of the population. The building of the Western Wall fell to the lot of the poor, and they worked hard to construct it, as they could not afford to hire laborers to do their work for them.

When the enemy destroyed the Temple, the Angels descended from on high and - spreading their wings over the Wall - said: "This Wall, the work of the poor, shall never be destroyed." (from "Legends of the Land of Israel")

6) Site of Jewish Heroism

When the First and Second Temples were destroyed, and during the Bar Kochba revolt, Israel's heroes fought like lions for every stone of the Temple. They have served as the example of bravery for Jews ever since.

Like them, our soldiers in 1967 fought in holy trepidation to liberate the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.
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Written by Rabbi Shraga Simmons, with thanks to "The Western Wall," published by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Copyright © 1995 - 2004 Aish.com - http://www.aish.com

Six Reasons Why The Wall Is Holy

Four Points: Arguments for Israel by Daniel Weinstein

From Four Points: Arguments for Israel:

In this age of sound-bites, here are some key facts at your fingertips.

When it comes to Israel, tempers sometimes flare, and sometimes we don't even know how to respond. We might hear a new argument or a new perspective, and the limited knowledge we have proves to be insufficient. Especially in the age of sound-bites and knee-jerk politics, we need to have more facts at our fingertips, organize what we know, and be prepared to respond effectively.

Recognizing this, here is a "Four-Point" educational campaign produced by Hasbara Fellowships. Each of the following 10 topics has four bullet-points -- to help deepen our understanding of the major issues of the Mideast conflict.

Settlements

1) Jews can live in Mexico City, Bangkok, St. Louis, and any city in the world (except in Saudi Arabia) -- but the PA wants to forbid Jews from living in the very cradle of Judaism.

2) The only period in the last 3,000 years without a continued Jewish presence in the West Bank was the 19 years between 1948-1967 when the Jordanian government banned Jews from living there.

3) In 1979, Ariel Sharon dismantled Yamit and other settlements in the Sinai when it was absolutely clear that compromise would bring a true peace.

4) Since the disputed territories were never part of a sovereign nation, and were acquired in a defensive war, international law permits the voluntary settlement of the land. Recognizing this, and the Oslo agreements never addressed the issue of Jewish or Arab settlements.

Refugees

1) There would be no refugee problem if seven Arab nations had not attacked Israel upon its inception in 1948.

2) Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have consciously chosen to isolate refugees as political pawns, rather than integrate them into a normalized life. UN General Assembly Resolution 194 reads that all governments involved must share responsibility.

3)800,000 Jewish refugees were expelled from Arab countries in 1948, but their descendents are normalized today because they were absorbed by Israel and other countries.

4) As opposed to refugees in Arab countries, Israel integrated Arabs within its borders as citizens, and 1.2 million Israeli Arabs now enjoy citizenship, benefits, and governmental representation in Israel.

Compromises for Peace

1) Israel signed independent peace treaties with Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994), each time giving away either land, oil, settlements, or strategic military advantage to achieve a peaceful agreement.

2) Israel gave the Palestinian Authority land, money, weapons, training, and intelligence, all in the hope that the PA would reciprocate with an end to terror and incitement.

3) The very formula "Land for Peace" indicates that Arabs compromise for what they want most -- land, while Israel compromises for what it wants most -- peace.

4) In 1917, 1937, 1947, 1956, 1979, and 1993 Israeli leaders established a pattern of accepting the handover of land in exchange for peace agreements with its Arab neighbors.

Waiting for a true Partner

1) The real PLO took the Israeli Olympic delegation hostage in the 1972 Munich Olympic games, and after failing to extort the release of Palestinian prisoners, killed 11 Israeli athletes.

2) The real PLO invented the idea of skyjackings in 1970, and instilled fear in travelers across the world.

3) The real PLO shot and killed the elderly, unarmed, wheelchair-bound, U.S. citizen Leon Klinghoffer on the Achille Lauro cruise liner in 1985.

4) The real PLO continues to incite violence against Jews, promote the armed struggle to "liberate all of Palestine," and indoctrinate Palestinian children into a culture of hatred where death is the ultimate prize.

The 3,000-year Jewish connection

1) The only independent sovereign nations to ever exist in the Land of Israel were the two ancient Jewish commonwealths, the second of which was destroyed in 70 of the common era.

2) For 3,000 years, Jews have expressed the desire to return to their ancestral homeland: at the Passover Seder, the Yom Kippur service, in daily prayer, in the blessing after meals, under the wedding canopy, on the yearly day of national mourning Tisha B'Av, and by placing Israeli soil in the coffin of their deceased.

3) Even after exile, Jews managed to keep a continual presence of Jewish communities in such cities as Jerusalem, Tzfat, Tiberias, Shechem, and Hebron.

4) Centuries before the inception of Islam, Jews were yearning to return to Israel, and the Koran itself records this in many suras (chapters), such as 17:7, 17:104, and 5:21 that tells the Jews to "enter into the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you."

Holy Sites

1) When Israel gained control and reunified Jerusalem in 1967, rather than forbid Muslim worship or close the mosques, it allowed the Muslim Waqf (religious authority) to administer and control the Temple Mount and maintain the Al-Aqsa mosque.

2) Under Jordanian rule, Jews were forbidden from praying at the Western Wall; the Mount of Olives cemetery and 58 Jewish synagogues were destroyed. However, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim sites are open to all worshippers under Israeli rule -- except for the site of the ancient Jewish Temple, the Temple Mount, where Jews are normally forbidden to pray.

3) When Israel transferred military control to the PA, angry mobs burned and destroyed Jewish holy sites and religious artifacts at Jericho, Hebron, and Joseph's tomb in Nablus.

4) In 2002, Palestinian terrorists took 30 monks hostage in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity because they knew Jewish soldiers would not shoot inside. After the hostages were freed, investigators found the Church profaned and desecrated.

Jerusalem

1) Mecca and Medina are the holiest cities to Muslims; Vatican City is the holiest to Catholics. While Jerusalem has significance to many religions, Jerusalem is supreme and holiest only to the Jews. When it was conquered by Jordan in 1949, no Muslim dignitary or leader visited Jerusalem in any official, public, or religious capacity.

2) Jerusalem has been central to Judaism since biblical times, when it was made the eternal spiritual capital of the Jewish people.

3) Jews have been the majority in Jerusalem since 1840, and there has been a continual Jewish presence in Jerusalem since the destruction of the Temple in the year 70 of the common era. (Paul Johnson, History of the Jews)

4) Jerusalem is for everyone only when it is in Israeli control.

The UN and International Law

1) The 1917 Balfour Declaration, the League of Nations Mandate, the 1947 UN Partition Plan, and Israel's 1949 admission into the UN reaffirmed Israel the international right to exist as the Jewish homeland.

2) UN Security Council Resolution 242 reads that Israel should relinquish land only if it is in the context of a "peaceful and accepted settlement." 3) UN Resolution 242 requires that all states in the area recognize Israel's "right to live in peace with secure and recognized borders free from threats or acts of force."

4) Until 2002, Israel was the only UN member state ineligible to sit on the Security Council, and today that right is still only limited and temporary. Since the 1970s, an Arab-Soviet-Third World Bloc reinforced Israel's outcast status by barring Israel from other key UN bodies and making Israel the object of more investigative committees and special representatives than any other state in the UN.

Israel's Excessive Restraint

1) Israel is facing a serious threat -- Palestinian gunmen have repeatedly fired at civilians and soldiers from hospitals, mosques and schools, using humans as shields and ambulances to transport weaponry.

2) Though the intifada has heaped violence upon Israel, there have been, on average, less than one person injured per Palestinian riot. Israel is currently training 26 other countries in technology it has created to minimize injury in crowd and riot control situations.

3) During "Black September" in Jordan in 1970, 2,500 Palestinian rioters were killed in 10 days by the Jordanian army. In 1993, UN Peacekeeping troops justified the killing of almost 100 Somalis by noting that, "Everyone on the ground in the vicinity was a combatant, because they meant to do us harm."

4) In April 2002, IDF ground forces went door-to-door to target known terrorists in Jenin, rather than use artillery or carpet bomb the city from above. Israel put its own troops at risk and lost 23 of its own soldiers because of this concern to not injure the innocent among its enemies.

Palestinian Lexicon

1) Hudna: strategic ceasefire engineered to rearm for the next battle, in English it is referred to as a "peace agreement." In the West, we tend to think of a "ceasefire" leading to peace - a Hudna is designed to lead to war.

2) Fatwa: Religiously inspired death warrant on the head of an enemy, all Jews living in Israel have a fatwa issued by Hamas leadership.

3) Occupation: Term describing a Jewish presence in any of the Land of Israel, including Israeli cities such as Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Hadera; in Western media it is tailored to refer only to the West Bank and Gaza.

4) Jihad: The religious struggle to eradicate the Jews from Israel and establish an Islamic society in their stead.